NASA Hosts News Conference, Interviews with Next Space Station Crew

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency), and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, who are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in late spring, will participate in a news conference at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website.

This will be Bresnik's second trip to the space station, the second expedition for Ryazanskiy, and Nespoli's third trip to the space station. They will be part of Expeditions 52 and 53.

Media who wish to participate by telephone should call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 1:45 p.m. Those following the briefing on social media can ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

After the news conference, interview opportunities are available with all crew members, in person or by phone. To request credentials to attend in person, or to reserve an interview opportunity, media must contact Johnson's newsroom by 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23. The deadline for international media accreditation has passed.

During his upcoming mission aboard the orbiting laboratory, Bresnik and his crewmates will facilitate more than 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth. Among the experiments is Cardiac Stem Cells which investigates how microgravity affects stem cells and the factors that govern stem cell activity, including physical and molecular changes. The Cosmic-Ray Energetics and Mass experiment is scheduled to arrive at the station during the crew's stay and will measure the charges of cosmic rays ranging from hydrogen up through iron nuclei, over a broad energy range.

Experiments such as these yield benefits for all of humanity, and will enable future long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space, including the agency's Journey to Mars.

Originally from Santa Monica, California, Bresnik graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and was commissioned in the Marine Corps in May 1989. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in May 2004 and flew aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station in 2009.